FULL THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS Helsinki 2024 John Findon, Christine Rice, Roderick Williams
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: The Dream of Gerontius
- Composer: Elgar Edward
- Libretto: John Henry Newman
- Venue & Opera Company: Musiikkitalo, Helsinki, Finland
- Recorded:
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: John Findon, Christine Rice, Roderick Williams
- Conductor: Nicholas Collon
- Orchestra: Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Chorus: Musiikkitalon Kuoro, Cambridge University Chorus, Choir of Clare College Alumni, Helsingin Kamerikuoro
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: areena.yle.fi
- Date Published: 2024
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: bilibili FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man’s soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory. Elgar disapproved of the use of the term “oratorio” for the work (and the term occurs nowhere in the score), though his wishes are not always followed. The piece is widely regarded as Elgar’s finest choral work, and some consider it his masterpiece.
The work was composed for the Birmingham Music Festival of 1900; the first performance took place on 3 October 1900, in Birmingham Town Hall. It was badly performed at the premiere, but later performances in Germany revealed its stature. In the first decade after its premiere, the Roman Catholic theology in Newman’s poem caused difficulties in getting the work performed in Anglican cathedrals, and a revised text was used for performances at the Three Choirs Festival until 1910.
Quoted from Wikipedia